I often make up melodies and a bassline, but when it comes to adding other instruments to compliment it I end up with a useless soup that sounds like they don't belong together. Then I delete everything out of frustration, and the circle begins again.

If anyone could suggest a process they use, I'd appreciate it

Thanks in advance.

UPDATE:- I spent an hour on this, (and I know it's not brilliant) but this is as far as i usually get.. Before deleting.

 

Last edited: Mar 26, 2024

^^^^
Hi @Sylenth.Will.Fall
If that’s the case you need to learn more about harmony and harmonic rhythm,so you will be able to harmonize the parts with chords of all inversions between your melody and bass patterns.Also you will need to create drum patterns that follow the same harmonic rhythm of your track,hope this helps you,take care !

 

One of the most recognized and respected composers in the last ten centuries was Johann Sebastian Bach. Some people consider him to be the father of harmony. A great many of his compositions contain only melody and bassline. So before you destroy yourself with your own opinion of your compositions, you are actually in good company.

If you do not wish to go on a massive journey into structural scale harmony, look at the bass note and the melody. What made Bach so great was his ability to imply the harmony, often with only two notes. SIMPLY - As an example, if the bass was a C and the melody an E, then it is obviously a C major - same if the melody was an Eb with a C in the bass, a C minor. Simply, look to what the melody notes are against the bassline. They actually tend to lean towards the harmony and almost tell you what the chord could be.

Just don't self-sabotage just because the perfect idea does not come straight away. File it away and come back to it.

 

Spacing out notes will help solve that. The more instruments you add, the more you'll want to spread notes across the instrumental spectrum.

Start by using just one instrument that handles the bass notes and keep all of the others at least an octave above that.

Got a guitar chord playing a full seventh chord (c-e-g-b)? Move the C to the bass instrument and leave out the 5th (g).

Edit: realize you were also talking about drums. The most important thing you could start with to connect the drums is having kicks play in sync with the bass. Then you could either start with a hihat pattern, or fill up the gaps with the snare accents.

 

Last edited: Mar 26, 2024

I like arranging into fundamentals; if the main melody is on the upper midrange, i will do the complementary on the low mids or/and the top end to fill the spectrum. Note division is a good way to place 2 or more instruments on the same fundamental without creating a mess.

 

I try to get rid of any track that does not really help. I give time. To complete a musical piece, sometimes it needs time. You will be able to listen with "new ears" after pausing your work for a while (2 weeks or more). Really good melodies will never come from your brain, your intellect – they will come from your heart. Maybe you don't need further instruments at all. Trust that.

 

Last edited: Mar 26, 2024

maybe you could simply use your played melody or bass midi as a different complimentary instrument, maybe change its pitch to add a harmony layer or maybe cut n paste the previous section at a different tempo or different instrumentation? Experimentation till you like what you hear

 

You're not alone. We're all in the same big ship with BaSsDuDe as the captain.

 

if you get good enough sounds for melody, bassline and drums sometimes you don't need any other....

i am not sure if u're trying to improve the overall sound by adding more sounds

maybe reverb could be what u're looking for to increase space of existing sounds rather than adding more sounds

 

Yes, sometimes this happens to me too!
Usually this happens when im composing each instrument individually.
To me, what i do to fix it, is to compose in context, with the other instruments playing in a loop.

 

I want to thank each and every one of you all for helping. It's really given me more incentive and direction.

 

@Sylenth.Will.Fall What Style of music do you make ?

What kind of instruments/virtual instruments/samples do you use ?

When you say "I end up with a useless soup that sounds like they don't belong together" are you talking about the arrangements/melodies/harmonies or about the actual sounds/textures that don't fit together ?

 

adding to all this, i really like the approach of that grey Ableton Live book "Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Ele....." (sister site) there's great insight in overcome blocks, new perspective ideas, it's like my go to psalms

 

similar to what @SpyFx ✪ ✓ said, rhythm and harmony - at its core thats what music is, frequencies in a rhythm

if you understand that music is rhythm, you can pretty much create whatever in any style. it doesnt even have to be in harmony all of the time, sometimes dissonance is perfect. but the rhythm, if you get good at that, youll make great songs instrumentally, youll be able to create stronger compelling feelings with the chord colors, sticky melodies, its all in the rhythm

if youre not at a point where it comes more naturally, use time signatures and tempo (bpm) to help you figure out the rhythm i.e. 4/4, 3/4, etc. so you can count it and place things within said rhythm

 

Apart from an Acoustic Guitar, just VST Oh and a midi Keyboard of course/ Novation Launchpad which isn't really being used)


Rather than answer individual questions,. I will put quickly together a melody/ bassline and basic drums. and with what @SpyFx ✪ ✓ has suggested regarding
Harmonies (and many other helpful people above) will try to incorporate those suggestions.

 

I placed the problems I have in a video up top ^^

 

Last edited: Mar 26, 2024

Pretty cool. How about you add the melody before deleting it ;) ?

 

I wanted to show the sort of thing I end up with, but tried to use a bit of what was said up there ^^^. I never got around to it.

 

You can write songs around a single bassline by gradually building individual instruments on top of each other and use tricks like playing the same melodies and chords but on different octaves, or running them through effects, but I think that's the lazy way of song writing.

I think it's better have a distinct verse that provides a nice counterpoint to the chorus and some bridges. At least that's what I like to hear in songs.

 

The hardest thing for me to learn to do as a guitar player was to focus on "hearing" the idea of the whole composition in my mind rather than just the guitar line. After that, I was able punch in MIDI Drums, record the bass, etc. The biggest help, though, was collaboration with other musicians. EZ Drummer is great at filling in the gaps with the drums if you're looking for some inspiration with that. They key though is being able to visualize the whole composition in your mind.